As many of you know, I take a special interest in stories of women from the Middle East. I wrote a series on the women in Iran last year that did fairly well on Medium, if you’ve not read it, you should.
I feel a lot like Dr. King in that regard; injustice anywhere and all. If we watch women systemically be denied an education, have their rights revoked, or, like in Syria, be denied an actual existence, what are we really doing? I can’t call myself a feminist if the only women I care for fly the same flag in their yard that I do.
If you follow news out of the Middle East, you know that the taliban has banned education for girls in Afghanistan after the sixth grade. And that’s all forms of education- no online classes, no tutors at home, nothing. You will not become an educated woman in Afghanistan; therefore, you will become a prisoner to a man. No other options, that is all, do not collect $200, do not pass go.
A young Ph.D. student I follow on Medium, Rustam Seerat, has placed himself in harm’s way because he is a much ballsier writer than myself and has started telling the stories of these women. I find myself in the comments more often than not, mystified by some of the responses to the information provided.
“Why don’t they just leave?” Um, ma’am, and go where? Their father is a goat herder in a war-torn country with taliban posted at literally every way out. Where is she going? At 12? Be serious.
“Can they protest?” Ma’am, they can die in the streets, like the women in Iran have done. That’s about it. That’s what protest will get for you in Afghanistan. They can’t even go to a routine doctor visit. Forget a pap. It ain’t happening. Neither is protest.
For all of this, I miss the days when the US wasn’t so busy arguing amongst ourselves over petty bullshit invented by politicians to keep us in a tizzy. The days when we policed the world, and quite well, because the military is nothing to be fucked with. No matter how I feel about the politicians at the helm, our military is a source of pride with me every day. I love them, they are exactly why I can spout off as I do, and I thank a service member for that.
I’ll be glad when we’re done with this bullshit christofascist run at power and we can return to the days of actually serving as a world leader. This has been our role since the 1920’s, and if we aren’t going to be responsible for ensuring the safety of people everywhere, then maybe we shouldn’t have the power to do so.
Everyone knows when our military gets involved, shit starts happening. If I were a woman in Afghanistan, or Libya, or Syria, or Iran, I would be searching the skies every day for a sign of our military. We’re pretty much the only hope they have. God knows their own people can’t help them.
This isn’t one of my typical rants. I don’t have an answer. I’m just sad. I’m sad that these girls won’t ever know a life better than that shit they call living over there. That they’ll forever be property, abused and mistreated. Their life is nothing to celebrate, and that breaks my fucking heart.
That’s all I have.
Some people are a little slow…
Well put.